If you’re tech-savvy and fascinated by technology’s potential for making the world a better place to live or machine economy in general, this article is for you.

We spoke to Leonard Dorlöchter about what drives his motivation behind his crypto startup, peaq Technology GmbH. Captivated by the promising future of technology and its possible uses in society, Leonard aims to realise the enormous potential of the burgeoning Economy of Things (EoT) space and machine economy as the next evolutionary step in our money-driven world.

Sound interesting? Then find out more about Leonard’s brilliant insights in this article and how tech can create a fairer society for the masses.

What Is a Machine Economy?

The ever-increasing trend of the machine economy is driven by the fact that machines are becoming smarter and more capable of performing tasks. As machines increasingly automate tasks as we advance, humans will need to work less. In other words, this trending machine economy is one that runs and operates without the intervention of humans.

For a more tangible example, think about self-driving cars. These are one of the most advanced and fastest-growing machines. The cars can drive themselves and might even offer rides to the users themselves in the future, or use the money they generate for self-repair, charging station trips, and more.

 However, machine economy and peaq wouldn’t be where they are today without blockchain.

What is Blockchain?

To better understand how peaq runs on a blockchain network, we also asked Leonard to elaborate more on its definition. He likes to refer to blockchain as a “neutral digital infrastructure”.

This means blockchain connects all aspects of centralised platforms and utilises them on a decentralised network. As such, it’s possible for everyone to observe, identify, and conduct transactions without needing to use the platform provider as a “middleman”. From this arises blockchain’s potential to make a big change in our centralised world as seen with its application to Web 3.0.

What is Web 3.0?

Going the next step from blockchain and machine economy, let’s take a look at Web 3.0. Though, to first understand what Web 3.0 is, let’s talk about a short history of the internet.

The Web Evolution

When the internet emerged, it was highly decentralised. Many people hosted servers, uploaded information on them, and made it accessible to the public. This user-powered generation of the internet became known as Web 1.0.

Given the limitations of Web 1.0, Web 2.0 was introduced to produce the capabilities we know today. However, for Web 2.0 to run, it requires massive operations behind the apps and functions we love to use. This means individual user support is no longer feasible. As a result, the internet has become very centralised and controlled by large companies as they have the necessary resources and the ability to user friendly.

Take Facebook for example. This social media giant maintains a massive data centre to support the website. Though, its network is a highly centralised, non-neutral digital infrastructure.

How Does Blockchain Relate to the Development of Web 3.0?

With the help of blockchain, Web 3.0 goes back to Web 1.0’s decentralisation while offering functionality, business logic, and sophisticated apps that compete with Web 2.0’s social networks.

Another benefit of blockchain is that it addresses today’s problem with centralisation in back-ends (otherwise known as the part of an app that is responsible for its operation). Again, blockchain’s decentralised manner of running is what makes this possible.

 In short, enhancing the neutrality of Web 2.0’s interface is what Web 3.0 strives for.

Blockchain makes the internet and digital infrastructure more accessible and democratised. Therefore, no one can meddle with it because it is a neutral interface. With the application of blockchain to the Web 3.0 framework, an individual’s assets will be seamlessly transferred.

The Significance of Blockchain and Decentralisation

Today we have more autonomous machines coming, but it’s still challenging for them to interact with their surroundings. Though, once they have been optimised the benefits will be worthwhile. Some of these benefits include:

Data Sovereignty

Blockchain can reclaim data sovereignty by granting users—and ultimately all machines—control over the data back-ends or the way their data will be monetised.

Instead of different identities, or login information, for sites and applications, Web 3.0 provides a self-sovereign identity. This singular identity can be used to log in to all sorts of sites and apps.

Rather than all your account information being used and stored by a company, such as Google for example, Web 3.0 grants only you this information. This means you can monetise and have full control of your data instead of a large company. In this sense, Leonard notes that we will see a redistribution of the internet back to the people from large companies.

Improved Internet Experience

Ultimately, we will have an improved internet experience that is more decentralised. This gives consumers more choice over how their data and common space are used. People will also be in a better position to profit from their data.

Expanding Services

Imagine being able to rent out private cars through a decentralised car-sharing service. Currently, only particular platforms, such as WeShare in Germany, provide car-sharing services. However, a decentralised car-sharing service would make it possible for someone not using their car to rent it out and secure it over blockchain.

Tokenising Services

In Web 3.0, individuals will be able to tokenise their services, be it music, art, and so on. This allows them to profit more as the middle platform involved in distributing their work and asking for a cut of the profits is omitted.  

How Does Machine Economy Ultimately Help Us Get to a Better Society?

Leonard acknowledges that the idea of a machine economy sounds somewhat terrifying, since people might lose their jobs. Though large corporations own and run their whole machine economy, so it is critical to consider decentralisation.

Peaq seeks to facilitate participation in creating the machine economy’s value. As he told us, “Peaq wants to democratise the value generation of the machine economy, where an individual can also participate”.

We should mention that individuals are likely to have more free time while still having financial resources in a machine economy. Such a scenario sounds too good to be true, but Leonard believes machine economy has enormous promise.

Leonard’s Tips for Going into the Industry

A lot is occurring in the fast-paced Web 3.0 and machine economy sectors. He believes it’s preferable first to understand what currently exists and doesn’t. Next, dig deep and decide which issues to address.

He advised anyone unfamiliar with the area to research before entering it. Possibly, someone else has already implemented your ideas or found a solution to the issues you wish to address.

Think about the aspects of Web 3.0 you’re most interested in. Find related projects, join them, and learn as much as possible. The information about that project should be public, given that it is open-sourced.

Once you get a solid overview and understand the dynamics, identify the challenges you want to tackle and can do confidently.

That’s a Wrap on Machine Economy and Web 3.0

If you’re interested in decentralisation and its potential, now is a great time to get into it because it’s early days. You will learn and do so much.

As an entrepreneur, the jump into machine economy and Web 3.0 may be discouraging at first, but hopefully, you can see the benefits are well worth it. To gain more of Leonard’s insights, we recommend checking out the interview we conducted with him on “Creating a Good Start-Up Culture.”